Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Is it ok to contact you directly on your work e-mail?

Last week, I received an e-mail
from a target candidate. He was so offended by the fact

that I had contacted
him on his work e-mail that he took the time to share his feelings with me…in
very clear words…

I can fully understand that someone
does not like to receive calls on their cell phone. Let’s face it, most of us
are in an open space office and receiving a call from a headhunter is uncomfortable
at best.

Or imagine that you are in the car…with
your boss…and you get me on hands free. Such an approach might not be the right
way to engage you in an exploratory conversation.

I tend to turn to e-mail to pitch
my opportunity in the hope that you will be attracted by it, or curious at
least.

Obviously, there is LinkedIn, which
is an easy way to get in touch and that is usually the starting point. But we
all know that not everyone checks his or her LinkedIn account on a regular
basis. When you have the right profile for a position, chances are that I will
take the time to dig up an e-mail address that I can use to contact you
directly. And in most cases, your work e-mail will be the easiest to find.

There are several ways to respond
to my pitch e-mail.

When you are interested in this or
future opportunities but you prefer to stay in touch through a private e-mail
address, you can simply ask me to use another e-mail for future correspondence or
even easier, send me a reply from your private account.

When you are not interested, a
simple ‘thanks but no’ will do the trick. But it is equally fine to just delete
it. I’ll get the message and I won’t be contacting you again.

When you do direct search, like I
do, there is no other way than to invade your privacy to find to out whether you
are open to explore new job opportunities. After all, my clients pay me to find
the best possible candidate for a position. So rather than being offended by
the ‘creative’ ways I use to get your attention, consider it a compliment, a
sign that your profile is attractive to other employers.

Nevertheless, the clear words of my
candidate resonate so here is here is my question for you: what is your
preferred way of being contacted for job opportunities?

I look forward to hearing from you,

Isabel

Through a personalized and
tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting
the right talent that matches the DNA of your company